War Poems | Poemist

Popular War Poems

Boots

by Rudyard Kipling

INFANTRY COLUMNS

We're foot--slog--slog--slog--sloggin' over Africa --
Foot--foot--foot--foot--sloggin' over Africa --
(Boots--boots--boots--boots--movin' up an' down again!)
There's no discharge in the war!

Seven--six--eleven--five--nine-an'-tw enty mile to-day --
Four--eleven--seventeen--thirty-two the day before --
(Boots--boots--boots--boots--movin' up an' down again!)

......

In Spite Of War

by Angela Morgan

In spite of war, in spite of death,
In spite of all man's sufferings,
Something within me laughs and sings
And I must praise with all my breath.
In spite of war, in spite of hate
Lilacs are blooming at my gate,
Tulips are tripping down the path
In spite of war, in spite of wrath.
"Courage!" the morning-glory saith;
"Rejoice!" the daisy murmureth,

......

The Poem Of Zuhair

by İbn Abî Sûlmâ Zuhayr

'Does the blackened ruin, situated in the stony ground between Durraj and Mutathallam, which did not speak to me, when addressed, belong to the abode of Ummi Awfa?

'And is it her dwelling at the two stony meadows, seeming as though they were the renewed tattoo marks in the sinews of the wrist?

'The wild cows and the white deer are wandering about there, one herd behind the other, while their young are springing up from every lying-down place.

'I stood again near it, (the encampment of the tribe of Awfa,) after an absence of twenty years, and with some efforts, I know her abode again after thinking awhile.

'I recognized the three stones blackened by fire at the place where the kettle used to be placed at night, and the trench round the encampment, which had not burst, like the source of a pool.

......

The Female Of The Species

by Rudyard Kipling

When the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride,
He shouts to scare the monster who will often turn aside.
But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and nail,
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

When Nag, the wayside cobra, hears the careless foot of man,
He will sometimes wriggle sideways and avoid it if he can,
But his mate makes no such motion where she camps beside the trail -
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

......

Exposure

by Wilfred Owen

I

1 Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knife us ...
2 Wearied we keep awake because the night is silent ...
3 Low drooping flares confuse our memory of the salient ...
4 Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous,
5 But nothing happens.

6 Watching, we hear the mad gusts tugging on the wire.
7 Like twitching agonies of men among its brambles.

......

Recent War Poems

Memories of War

by Ghairo Daniels

MEMORIES OF WAR

In prison we turmoiled
packed up cards to fall
whilst they sucked
genitals like bonbons
a quartz on a table
gleamed its knowing

......

A Crossroads for Iran

by Dr. Robert Ippaso

When missiles fly
The Mullahs lie
They bide their time
To turn the tide

Their constant bluster
Now short of luster
For why we ask
No God sent task

......

Rockets over Iran versus rockets over Israel

by Mario Odekerken

Rockets over Iran,a sky cracked with fire,
cities hushed beneath sirens, prayers rising
in smoke.
Rockets over Israel,walls trembling in the dark,
children sleep in shelters,dreams pierced by fear.

Different soil,same echo,
metal falls without a name,
and the earth forgets who started it.

Verplicht sterven

by Mario Odekerken

Ze stonden ooit op een veld,
niet om te oogsten,
maar om te vechten.

Hun namen vergeten in rapporten,
hun adem verstikt
door bevelen die geen gezicht hebben.

De ene droeg een geweer,
de ander een kind.

......

Red Sea

by Ghairo Daniels

RED SEA

At the mouth I lay splayed
blood trickling, slowly dripping into soft mud or red Akashic ink
mud of my anus, ink of my sacred septum
white flags drenched with rain diluted red corpuscles
sharp splinter rain kissing my life force
gasping

A silenced Aleph commanded not

......